Hi
Im currently rebuilding my alpha drive due to a oil leak to the bellows area.I have the mercruiser manual for the drive and understand the two different bearing type methods.I think I have it right but would like to have it confirmed,so all alpha one gurus please chime in.
Im fairly sure the bearing assembly is the older type with the shim spacer,which means you dont set the rolling torgue,you just torgue the nut to the specified torque.
This is due to following reasons:
-The nut on the gear end was ridiculously tight,I could not break it loose by hand but had to use and impact wrench.If it would be the newer style bearings without the shim where you adjust the preload with the nut it would not be on this tight(held by nyloc and loctite).
-The bearings move freely of the drive gear,the inner races just slide on.I can completely diassemble the inner and outer races and remove them from the drive gear,krrping everything in order ofcourse
-There is a spacer between the inner races.It was just alot bigger than I thought reading the manual.
So this is the older type bearing correct?This means that I only torque the nut to 95nm.
The leak was due to a bad oil seal and grooved seal surface on the yoke.I cleaned the surface up with ultra fine scotchbrite and set the new seal 0,5mm deeper so that it will ride on a new surface.I suspect there has been a bellows leak at some point because there is rust on the seal surface and u-joints,this is probably also what caused the groove on the surface.The u-joints seem ok due to generous greasing.
Btw.The water pocket cover had melted,I was unsure if it was leaking so I thought I replace it against all the advise on message boards to do so.I gently heated up the housing and the sprayed cooling spray on the hex ends of the screws.Generously applying wd40 and blowing the hex ends with a extension and a hammer.I repeated this a few times before even attempting to unscrew the bolts.I dont know which of the procedures above made the most difference but I was able to unscrew the 4 screws with ease without making any damage to the aluminium threads in the housing.This outdrive has been used in saltwater for 26 years and here the boats stay in the water for 7 months,so the screws should have been properly seized in the housing.
If anyone has to remove the water pocket cover I would suggest trying the method above.Stainless steel and aluminum vary greatly in different thermal expansion,heating and cooling + the shocks from the hammer helps to break the two materials apart.
Im currently rebuilding my alpha drive due to a oil leak to the bellows area.I have the mercruiser manual for the drive and understand the two different bearing type methods.I think I have it right but would like to have it confirmed,so all alpha one gurus please chime in.
Im fairly sure the bearing assembly is the older type with the shim spacer,which means you dont set the rolling torgue,you just torgue the nut to the specified torque.
This is due to following reasons:
-The nut on the gear end was ridiculously tight,I could not break it loose by hand but had to use and impact wrench.If it would be the newer style bearings without the shim where you adjust the preload with the nut it would not be on this tight(held by nyloc and loctite).
-The bearings move freely of the drive gear,the inner races just slide on.I can completely diassemble the inner and outer races and remove them from the drive gear,krrping everything in order ofcourse
-There is a spacer between the inner races.It was just alot bigger than I thought reading the manual.
So this is the older type bearing correct?This means that I only torque the nut to 95nm.
The leak was due to a bad oil seal and grooved seal surface on the yoke.I cleaned the surface up with ultra fine scotchbrite and set the new seal 0,5mm deeper so that it will ride on a new surface.I suspect there has been a bellows leak at some point because there is rust on the seal surface and u-joints,this is probably also what caused the groove on the surface.The u-joints seem ok due to generous greasing.
Btw.The water pocket cover had melted,I was unsure if it was leaking so I thought I replace it against all the advise on message boards to do so.I gently heated up the housing and the sprayed cooling spray on the hex ends of the screws.Generously applying wd40 and blowing the hex ends with a extension and a hammer.I repeated this a few times before even attempting to unscrew the bolts.I dont know which of the procedures above made the most difference but I was able to unscrew the 4 screws with ease without making any damage to the aluminium threads in the housing.This outdrive has been used in saltwater for 26 years and here the boats stay in the water for 7 months,so the screws should have been properly seized in the housing.
If anyone has to remove the water pocket cover I would suggest trying the method above.Stainless steel and aluminum vary greatly in different thermal expansion,heating and cooling + the shocks from the hammer helps to break the two materials apart.
